Play the Spanish El Gordo Lottery Online

History Of El Gordo:

The Spanish Lottery organisers, Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, were established by Royal Decree in 1985 to operate national lotteries in Spain. El Gordo de la Primitiva is one of the lotteries on offer and was first launched in 1993.

Originally this lottery was only held once a month but in October 1997 the draw was changed to weekly. There have not been many changes to El Gordo since then other than an additional 9th prize tier being added in 2005.

How To Play El Gordo:

Like many other lotteries including the USA Powerball and Mega Millions, the El Gordo de la Primitiva involves the use of two separate number sets. Lottery players select their numbers as follows:

- Select 5 numbers from a possible 54 (the primary numbers)- Select 1 number from a possible 9 (the key number)

To win the jackpot a player needs to match all 5 primary numbers and the extra key number.

El Gordo Jackpots:

El Gordo de la Primitiva has a minimum starting jackpot of 5 million Euros and will roll over until it is won. The jackpot for this Spanish National Lottery has climbed to over 30 million Euros before.

Please note that from 2013 a government tax of 20% is levelled on all lottery winnings over €2,500.00.

When To Play El Gordo:

El Gordo is played once a week on Sunday afternoon. No sales are made on Sunday so the cut-off for ticket purchases is actually the Saturday afternoon before the draw. Drawings are held in Madrid at 1pm (GMT+1) every Sunday and broadcast on Televisión Española and Radio Nacional de España. Once results are confirmed a few hours later, results mailers will be sent out.

El Gordo Prize Structure:

The value of the prize tiers is determined by the volume of ticket sales from the previous week.

Prize Tier

Match

Jackpot

5 Balls + Key Number

Tier 2

5 Balls

Tier 3

4 Balls + Key Number

Tier 4

4 Balls

Tier 5

3 Balls + Key Number

Tier 6

3 Balls

Tier 7

2 Balls + Key Number

Tier 8

2 Balls

Tier 9

0 Balls + Key Number

The cut-off time for purchasing tickets on FatCatLottos.com is 14:00 or 15:00 PM GMT on the Saturday before the draw (depending on UK daylight savings time). Tickets for the El Gordo lottery are purchased by agents in Madrid, Spain.